I thought I should share this with everyone that has been looking at the response from the left and portrayed by the media.
This came from a stumping speech given by Bozeman Senator Hawks that stopped in Townsend to tell our commissioner and the people of this county how bad things are in the legislature and with the tea party republicans.
The top of the handout at this meeting said this. “For your reading pleasure, here are some of the major pieces of legislation that have been put forward by the Tea Party Republicans who are now in control of the legislature. This is not a joke. These are real bills and they are currently taking priority in the Montana legislature. Enjoy.”
The handout continued to go through a list of 18 bills with a censured short title of each bill. Here are a couple examples of that list.
2. Create fully armed militia in every town (House Bill 278
3. Allow legislators to carry weapons in the capitol (Senate Bill 279)
9. Eliminate all state incentives for developing wind power (House Bill 244)
12. Give Sheriffs authority over the federal government in terror investigations (Senate Bill 114)
The list continued on and we are sure that the meeting was set to discuss these listed bills, but our tea party tenacity to aggravate those that need it prevented them from discussing this agenda.
FYI, For those of you that remember we had the speakers come from Idaho to speak about racism and the tea party movement being a terrorist organization needing watching. That meeting was held some time back here in Townsend. One of the Democratic organizers of that event informed me that there is a professor from Idaho doing research on that issue with the tea party movement and the connection with the supremacists.
Mark your calendars and join together on the 4th to send our Anti American Governor a message about the nullification and the pushing back of government intrusions of our lives here in Montana. Come support those legislators that are carrying bills that we have promoting our sovereignty and insuring our freedom to keep and bear arms across Montana.
1. This is an open carry event. To comply with the permit, all weapons must be unloaded. This event is not the place or time to challenge the 2nd Amendment violation of Helena but will be the foundation for that challenge.
2. The Tenth Amendment will provide relief for the people of this state as long as we continue to stand for sovereignty and push back the federal government that is infringing on our basic rights.
3. We always have fun and remain safe in our events, and that is something that we are all proud of.
James Madison Center for Free Speech 1 South 6th Street
Terre Haute, IN 47807-3510 www.jamesmadisoncenter.org
PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, October 28, 2010 Contact: James Bopp, Jr.
Phone: 812/232-2434; Fax 812/235-3685; jboppjr@aol.com
Montana Tea Party Group Sues to Protect its Free Speech
A father and daughter concerned with runaway government spending started a group called Montana Shrugged in 2009. It organizes, educates, and activates people to promote the understanding and execution of the United States Constitution. Such activities, however, are heavily regulated in Montana and are banned if done by corporations.
Montana law bans any corporation from spending money to influence an election. The Supreme Court unequivocally declared in its recent Citizens United decision that states have no legitimate interest in such prohibitions. Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock, a defendant in this case, said “corporations aren’t censored here.” We agree, they cannot speak at all.
Montana law also requires any corporation “incidentally” spending money to influence elections to comply with political committee burdens such as appointing a treasurer, establishing a separate bank account, and registering and filing regular reports with the Commissioner of Political Practices. Citizens United held that these burdens also violate free speech rights.
Because these regulations infringe on its right to free speech under the Constitution, Montana Shrugged filed suit today in federal court.
James Bopp, Jr., counsel for Montana Shrugged, explained that “these heavy burdens are exactly the types of burdens the Supreme Court has held do not apply to groups who occasionally mention candidates while rallying for issues of concern to them.”
The case is Montana Shrugged v. Unsworth. Copies of the complaint and other documents relating to the case are available in pdf online at the James Madison Center’s website.
Lead Counsel, James Bopp, Jr,. has a national federal and state election law practice. He is general counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech and former Co-Chairman of the Election Law Subcommittee of the Federalist Society. He has also successfully argued numerous times before the United States Supreme Court.
Local Counsel, James E. Brown, is a native of Dillon, Montana and is an attorney at Doney, Crowley, Bloomquist, Payne, and Uda, P.C. His practice includes representing clients in cases before the Commissioner of Political Practices and he advocates free speech protection.
MontanaPBS’ Montana Focus presents “The Tea Party: Taxed Enough Already?” on October 28 at 7 p.m. The show airs again on Oct. 30 at 5 p.m.; Oct.31 at 3:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.; and election night, Nov. 2 at 8 p.m.
Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is at the top of their recommended reading list. They are passionate about property rights and the constitution. Montana Focus examines the potential impact that the Tea Party might have in the outcome of the November election. Will the Tea Party succeed as a viable third party in American politics?
Montana Focus is an in-depth news and public affairs series hosted by Gene Brodeur which tackles issues across the state relating to politics and government, natural resources, business development and social changes. It is produced by Gene Brodeur and Scott Sterling for KUSM-TV/MontanaPBS at Montana State University.
As you may already know, PBS has visited Billings twice now to tape members of Montana Shrugged during rallies and interviewed several of them for this documentary. So, mark your calendars. You have 3 chances to watch this one…..
Happy Birthday America! I know I’m proud to be an American. I love my country and we tea party so that people like me can have a chance at the same future my parents did. Our great country is 234 years old. In the larger picture of countries worldwide, America is relatively young. But if “We the People” don’t act and stand up for our great nation, she will die at a young age.
What do we do? To do nothing is not an option; America will be destroyed. We must do something, but what?
The answer is simple, but not easy: “We the People” must stand up and do what we know is right, and be true patriots in our nation’s time of crisis. We must go to the polls and throw out the bums in November; this cannot be done in one election cycle, but will take a few years to get that job done. But we must remain steadfast and committed to do that, or it will be the same old business as usual- tax, spend, redistribute, and then repeat all over again. Getting rid of the liberal progressives in government, every last one of them, is a must do mission. And the start date is November 2, 2010.
But that doesn’t fix everything. “We the People” must do our part to spread the message of Americanism. Americanism is not just a made up word- it is the essence of our nation. We have a rich history of immigrants coming to America and contributing to society, and becoming Americans. Becoming citizens, learning English, celebrating our holidays, and doing other civic duties are all part of being American. Every single one of us who is an American knows what it means to be an American, and how precious this is. But unfortunately our country is full of people who don’t know and don’t care about being American- they only want what we have for them to take, and don’t want to be part of the American culture.
“We the People” must enforce Americanism in our own communities. We must stop the welfare handouts, the so-called “sanctuary cities”. We must stop printing all of our signs, literature, and other printed information in several languages-ENGLISH ONLY. We must stop giving the option of pressing “1” for English- if the caller doesn’t understand English, they need to learn it NOW.
It is up to “We the People” to enforce Americanism- the government isn’t going to do it, and to be quite honest private companies are just as bad when it comes to catering to the “Unamericans”. We must make a conscious decision to enforce Americanism in our lives, our business, and our communities. It is essential to the long life of America, and I for one do not want to see her die a young death.
Whew, off on a tangent there. Back to a recap of Independence Day in Laurel, Montana!
Head to Laurel at 6:30 am to set up our booth and get it ready for the day. There was nothing difficult about that except the being in Laurel at 7 am bit.
Booth done so we did a little decorating of our Kodiak (parade float in this case). We didn’t spend nearly as much time this year decorating as last year. I will not be surprised when we do not take home the “Best Patriotic” plaque. I was so excited to see ALL the patriotic floats! WOW! Somebody else must also be proud to be an American! (Or it was all the complaints we got last year and those people decided to be patriotic so that we couldn’t win the plaque…..you decide…). How are you TOO patriotic on the 4th of July? Or any other day of the year for that matter?
Anyhow, we moved the truck over to our line-up for the parade and tea party patriots started showing up left and right. We had about twice as many walkers as last year which was amazing! We also have a patriot on a 4-wheeler and a custom built chopper who headed our float off. Very cool. Might I add these people have it figured out (the ones who brought wheels) as this parade is just over 2 hours long. That is a long walk! Especially when it feels like its 100 degrees out.
This year we stuck to American Flags. No tea party signs, just American Flags. We had so many complaints last year that the Laurel Chamber was flooded with liberals. We figured we’d save them that headache and only carry the flags which we figured nobody could complain about.
There was 1 nut job in the crowd. That was the only negative comment we got (or at least that we heard). He claimed that the 4th of July parade was no place for us to carry an American Flag…huh? Really? I wonder if he said that to all the floats…..or just the tea party?
We had applause from the crowd pretty much the entire way. You could tell there was an enormous amount of tea party patriots in the crowd…..which also was told by the number of people who came by our booth afterwards and signed up to be a member if they were not already.
It was a beautiful day and a great crowd of people!
We met people at our booth all the way from Florida and South Carolina? There were patriots from Texas, Nevada, Arizona, and all across the state of Montana. It’s great to be united! I even met 6 people from facebook! Ah, what a small but great world it is!
And then, of course, by the time it got dark we were able to watch the great fireworks display put on by the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department. They did a great job! I took some video on my phone that you can watch below. Phone camera didn’t do it justice…..but hey, it’s better than nothing.
We are not crazy, radical, racists…..who knew? We know that the left are most of those but never carry firearms as they are trying to strip your 2nd amendment rights daily. So, of course, none of the left-wing liberals showed up to our bbq this afternoon to cause trouble. I suppose it might have been a bit cold for them as well.
Braving the cold spring time weather in Montana!
Today in Billings we had an open carry bbq. I might add that it would have been much nicer and we’d of had a much larger crowd of people had the weather actually turned out well. But even with the rain, hail, and ridiculous winds we still had about 20 patriots out to enjoy a charcoaled hot dog.
Thank you Billings PD for supporting our rights.
Only were a couple of us who came with a firearm on their hip, but everyone brought wives and children for a windy cold day in the park.
'round table' discussion....
The police department was completely appreciative to what we were trying to do-We even had an officer come enjoy a hot dog with us.
We talked politics about the city of Billings, what are the major issues such as drinking/drug use…..nice fellow he was. Young police man. He has only on the force for a bit over a year. We need more of people like him who see the actual problems instead of just causing fights with people who are not lawbreakers.
Except f or the weather it was a good day in Billings for a bbq. Welcome to spring in MT!
A day late and dollar short, I must tell you about the grand April 15th Tax Day Tea Party that we sponsored in Billings, Montana…
Montana Shrugged organized and presented a great rally on that day to commiserate the day that all Americans must file their income tax returns or suffer the wrath of IRS..
We are Taxed Enough Already…..Get it Billings, Get it Yellowstone County, Get it Montana, Get it US of A…..NO more, nada, nyet,
What part of NO do you not understand? It is apparent as the oft quoted phrase issued by President Bill Clinton “It depends on what the meaning of is is”? Now that we understand each other, let’s get back to rally.
WE setup on the courthouse lawn beginning at 9:00 am after we picked up our morning Cafe Americanos from our favorite brew pub Rock Creek Coffee Roasters and our favorite barrister/owner Peggy..
WE setup a Patriotic tent awning as speaker gathering place and a fabulous sound system borrowed from Beartooth Harley.
The supreme Kodiak 4500 black pickup was flagged up with American and Patriotic flags… Political poster signs were unloaded and hauled to the speaker tent..
WE were pleasantly surprised to see KULR8, KTVQ2, and the Billings Gazette present and working the ever harmless but concerned citizenry that was gathering…All told it looked like we had near five hundred hungry patriots there…We assume hungry as they were meeting us over their observed lunch hours…hehe….
We were concerned about liberal plants in the crowd but observed none…Thank God….
We started the gathering by inviting all the gatherers to listen to a short summary presented by Eric Olsen, followed by a pledge of allegiance led by Joe Bailey, an invocation by Pastor Richard Miller and a great acapella rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Sheri Olsen who is lead in the 912 Group.
Many great speeches followed through the course of the next hour and half by various State representatives and business leaders..
There were many cheers of support from the crowd regarding saving our freedoms, lowering taxes, limiting government, cutting budgets, preserving our critical amendments to the Constitution….
The sun broke out half way through the program and like a nod of acceptance from God, we felt honored by his presence throughout the activities..
Eric presented a short sermon on the costs of putting grand entitlement programs as well as excessive taxation programs brought about by Franklin Delano Roosevelt…These entitlements continue to this day and are now unfunded mandates to the tune of trillions of dollars…So as a show of force and concern, a new tradition was inspired to take all Roosevelt dimes from that day forward and contribute to a tea party near you…Montana Shrugged collected fifty dollars in Roosevelt dimes that day..Keep up the tradition Montana…
ONly had one drive by dissenter in a Cadillac Escalade ranting about 911 and truther stuff…he got tired of shouting after couple of passes…
We thank all our participants for the peaceful assembly…WE thank all our participants for being concerned citizens…WE thank the Billings Police for their behind the scenes support…
Billings Montana should be proud of these citizens whom sacrifice time in their day to come our and express their concerns over the dire situation in this country today…We invite them and their friends to take more notice and rally harder to make real change happen….
Moving on with our Montana Shrugged activities that weekend, we move into Friday where we assisted Jerry Prouse, candidate for Yellowstone County Commissioner, with securing press to meet with famous country western performer .. Aaron Tippin.. Aaron Tippin graciously accepted and invitation by Mr. Prouse to do a benefit concert at the Shine Auditorium that Friday evening.
Members of the Montana Shrugged gang as well as the Prouse family and a few select friends met Aaron Tippin at the LaQuinta hotel early afternoon. KULR8, KTVQ2 and Voices of Montana were present to interview Mr. Tippin… There was great comradeship in the crowd…Aaron Tippin is a great patriot and has lived the life and has written about it throughout his career…
Left to Right: Jennifer, Aaron Tippin, Jan, Eric (members of Shrugged)
Members of Montana Shrugged helped Prouse out with a pig roast in back of Shrine that evening as well as selling tickets and maintaining the doors while the crowd flowed in…
Approximately five hundred patriotic Montanans filed into the shrine for an Acoustic show put on by Aaron Tippin and his lead guitarist Bob… The same show he informed us that he usually does for the troops in Afghanistan…WE felt privileged to have him on stage….
Sheri Olsen again led the crowd in the Star Spangled Banner just prior to Jerry Prouse giving a heartfelt speech about America and its freedoms…of course, the wall size American flag gave it a great deal more meaning….the only thing missing was a white six shooter on his hip, a military helmet and a pit bull at his side….oh to digress..
Aaron Tippin played for an hour and then after adjournment, he graciously stood in lobby and greeted those that wished to stay with pictures and signatures…What a true patriot….What a great entertainer and what a great man….We honor you Aaron Tippin.
And to close out the weeked, Montana Shrugged and their friends from the John Birch Society shard a table at the three day gun show which was setup at the holiday Inn Convention Center…WE met some great new friends there and had great and positive reinforcement of our activities….
To quote Aaron Tippin song “You have to stand for something or you will fall for anything”..
Rally on folks…Rally on to your hearts desire for we will prevail…We the people will rule this great country once again… and there is hope for real change….
Montana Shrugged with Eric Olsen in the lead, left Billings MT with his wife Diane late Friday afternoon on their trek to participate in the Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner in Kalispell, Mt.This GOP gathering is an annual event and critical to the success of the GOP in upcoming elections.
Diane and Eric stopped in Butte on Friday night to pick up Allan, a hard working Petroleum Engineering Student at Montana Tech..
After a short night of restless sleep the trio picked up a coffee at Starbucks and headed on to Missoula…
Short fuel stop and news interviews at KECI were executed at mid day. The news reporter at KECI was interested in knowing how the tea party is growing and what plans we had for April 15th… Of course, Eric gave them the fifteen minute history of the tea party and explained why it continues to grow… It is we the people….and the government by, through and under the people….
Diane drove the vehicle through the myriad of open spaces and tree covered plains.
There were very majestic views as the Mountains rose up in front of the vehicle. The contrasts of colors were amazing….The snowcapped mountains were picture perfect…
As we approached Flathead Lake the amazing beauty of the pristine lake with the towering mountains in the background was as good a view as any postcard….Which, with government Monumental Status hovering in DC for a good portion of the west, postcard pictures will be our only future to see the views of the west….
The weary trio arrived in Kalispell around 3:00pm and located the hotel for Rehberg private meeting.. After snacking in vehicle, we entered the room and setup Montana Shrugged banner…Met with Rehberg staff before meeting….
In a round table discussion led by Denny Rehberg, many issues were addressed although not in detail. The various entities participating in discussions were concerned overall about their freedoms and excessive government spending…
Diane, Eric and Allan arrived early at the Expo Center where LRDD was scheduled to be held.. After greeting the staff who were collecting tickets and fees, we located a table near the front of room…. Diane spent time at table conversing with local citizenry while Eric and Allan worked the room meeting and greeting local political candidates…
The air of the dinner was exciting….The optimism in the room was high… The local candidates spoke for two minutes to describe their platforms…The general felling from all candidates was that we have had enough of the overspending and limiting of individual freedoms….The candidates were fired up to pursue their competition with facts and passion…
The night consisted of a Grand Prize drawing which Eric won unexpectedly..
There were active and quiet auctions in the room… Many homemade pies auctioned off at $100 per pie…Whew….
A local troupe performed for the crowd with the first skit being a new game called Obamaopoly….the innocent player had no chance as redistribution made it impossible to get ahead..Second skit was a takeoff on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood….tragically Mr. Roberts lost everything of value to the redistribution thugs…And final skit was situated in a restaurant….Waitress announced that you could have everything on menu and the table next to you would pay for it…only disappointment was that you had to wait until 2014 for it to take effect…
Is redistribution fact of fiction….you decide….
The trio blaze trail back to Billings taking the backside drive around Flathead lake…The groves of cherry trees was amazing….No buds visible yet..
Dropped Allan off at College after ingesting another wonderful Pork Chop John sandwich…A tradition for any of you that have lived in Butte….
The result of this entire two day sixteen hour drive was increased optimism….Optimism that we the people with the help and support of the now, more constitutional GOP candidates with in our great State will increase our States Rights and our subsequent power to counter the egregious federal government.
Montana and America, go, fight and win back your country….NOW…Not later…For later will be too late…
Like most people know…..Shrugged shows up everywhere! We travel across the state of MT for other tea party group rallies and we also travel to Denver on occasion. This time it was for the TEA Party Express Rally.
We had the pleasure of meeting the TEA Party Express patriots last year when they travelled through MT stopping in Helena and then Bozeman.
Members of Shrugged attended both of those rallies and one of our leaders, Eric, even got to speak at both of them.
This time, the stop was Denver. March 31, 2010. Members of Shrugged drove all the way to Denver so that Eric could once again speak about our great activies on the steps of the CO capital.
Here is a video of his short speech:
If you have never attended a rally organized the the TEAParty express you are missing out! They have a great bunch of speakers who travel with the tour as well as entertainment for the whole family!
Eric speaks at TEA Party Express Rally to over 4000 patriots on the steps of the CO capital.
It was of course a peaceful rally though there were many police officers in attendance as well as a handful of protesters. Odd how there are always way more patriots than protesters?
A few of the many police who were looking for a trouble maker in the crowd.
Even police flying overhead.
All signs were home-made. No mass production within the crowd's signs.
Was a successful trip for those members of Shrugged who made the long haul to be with fellow patriots in the Denver area. We hope to see more of you at future rallies!
Yesterday many members of Montana Shrugged traveled to the Capital of Montana to join many others with one simple goal: Make the point to our elected officials in Helena that We The People want to keep our 2nd Amendment Rights.
We carried our guns proudly to show that we will not stand by and allow for the federal and state governments to infringe on the rights given to us by the 2nd Amendment of the United States Constitution!
Over 400 Montana people showed up at the capital!
Eric and Jennifer stand by listening to several speakers from across the country during the 2nd Amendment Rally at the capital.
The Second Amendment to the United Constitution reads:
“A WELL REGULATED MILITIA, BEING NECESSARY TO THE SECURITY OF A FREE STATE, THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED”
There were a few news organizations there which gave their “fair and unbiased”. Everyone gathered peacefully to listen to speakers from across the country.
Jan and Jennifer, members of Montana Shrugged, pose with their guns on their hips.
Over 400 people gathered to exercise their 2nd amendment rights.
Let’s continue this momentum through the week rallying outside the Billings Gazette Building in downtown Billings on Wednesday, March 31, from 12-1pm!
Please be sure to read the rest of the news article blocks in this email so that you do not miss any of our upcoming events! April will be a very busy month for Montana Shrugged!
Montana Shrugged 